1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of mass spectrometry. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mass spectrometer system and method that provides for an improved mode of operation of a quadrupole mass spectrometer that includes scanning the RF and DC applied fields exponentially versus time while maintaining the RF and DC in constant proportion to each other. In this novel mode of operation, ion intensity as a function of time is the convolution of a fixed peak shape response with the underlying (unknown) distribution of discrete mass-to-charge ratios (mass spectrum). As a result, the mass distribution can be reconstructed by deconvolution, producing a mass spectrum with enhanced sensitivity and mass resolving power.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Quadrupoles are conventionally described as low-resolution instruments. The theory and operation of conventional quadrupole mass spectrometers is described in numerous text books (e.g., Dawson P. H. (1976), Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry and Its Applications, Eisevier, Amsterdam), and in numerous Patents, such as, U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,952, entitled “Apparatus For Separating Charged Particles Of Different Specific Charges,” to Paul et al, filed Dec. 21, 1954, issued Jun. 7, 1960.
As a mass filter, such instruments operate by setting stability limits via applied RF and DC potentials that are capable of being linearly ramped as a function of time such that ions with a specific range of mass-to-charge ratios have stable trajectories throughout the device. In particular, by applying fixed and/or ramped AC and DC voltages to configured cylindrical but more often hyperbolic electrode rod pairs in a manner known to those skilled in the art, desired electrical fields are set-up to stabilize the motion of predetermined ions in the x and y directions. As a result, the applied electrical field in the x-axis stabilizes the trajectory of heavier ions, whereas the lighter ions have unstable trajectories. By contrast, the electrical field in the y-axis stabilizes the trajectories of lighter ions, whereas the heavier ions have unstable trajectories. In combination, the electrical field in both axes determines the band pass mass filtering action of a particular quadrupole mass filter to extract desired mass data. Upon detection of such data, a deconvolution software algorithm(s) is often utilized to filter the resultant quadrupole mass spectral data in order to improve the mass resolution.
Typically, quadrupole mass spectrometry systems employ a single detector to record the arrival of ions at the exit cross section of the quadrupole rod set as a function of time. By varying the mass stability limits monotonically in time, the mass-to-charge ratio of an ion can be (approximately) determined from its arrival time at the detector. In a conventional quadrupole mass spectrometer, the uncertainty in estimating of the mass-to-charge ratio from its arrival time corresponds to the width between the mass stability limits. This uncertainty can be reduced by narrowing the mass stability limits, i.e. operating the quadrupole as a narrow-band filter. In this mode, the mass resolving power of the quadrupole is enhanced as ions outside the narrow band of “stable” masses crash into the rods rather than passing through to the detector. However, the improved mass resolving power comes at the expense of sensitivity. In particular, when the stability limits are narrow, even “stable” masses are only marginally stable, and thus, only a relatively small fraction of these reach the detector.
Background information on a system that is directed to addressing the improvement of the resolving power of a quadrupole mass filter while simultaneously increasing the sensitivity is described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/716,138 entitled: “A QUADRUPOLE MASS SPECTROMETER WITH ENHANCED SENSITIVITY AND MASS RESOLVING POWER,” to Schoen et al, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
In general, the system as disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 12/716,138 utilizes a detection scheme and method of processing the data (a stream of images, i.e., Qstream™) after acquisition to result in a desired high sensitivity and high resolution spectra. The principal idea behind the embodiments described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/716,138 is that one can measure a set of images produced by any one homogeneous population of ions to form a “reference signal”. Then, in a mixture of arbitrary ions, one can write the observed signals as the superposition of individual components, which are scaled versions of the measured reference signal. The scaling is vertical, to address abundance differences and horizontal, to address difference in mass-to-charge ratios. When the mass range and mass stability limits are a small fraction of the ion mass, the dilation of the reference signal can be approximated by a shift. In the case where component signals are shifted replicates of the reference signal, the observed data can be modeled as the convolution between a mass spectrum (comprising of scaled impulses at discrete mass positions) and the reference signal. In this special case, the mass spectrum can be reconstructed by rapid deconvolution. When the component signals are, in fact, related by dilation rather than shift, deconvolution provides an approximate solution, whose accuracy reflects the extent to which replacing time-dilations with time-shifts is valid. Because the accuracy of the approximation decreases with the width of the mass stability limit, relatively narrow limits are required, limiting ion duty cycle and therefore sensitivity. Because the accuracy of the approximation decreases with the width of the mass range linked to a given reference signal, it is necessary to employ multiple reference signals that would, ideally, be separated at regular mass intervals. Acquired data covering a large mass range could be partitioned into small “chunks” centered around a reference signal. For sufficiently small chunks, the application of deconvolution would provide an accurate result for each chunk. The mass spectrum could be “stitched” together from the analysis of the chunks. This “chunking” mode of operation involves additional complexity in calibration and analysis, and gives only a moderately accurate, but suboptimal, result.
Accordingly, there is a need in the field of mass spectroscopy to provide a system and method that can acquire data which is the convolution of the desired mass spectrum with a fixed response function (i.e., reference signal). That is, the component signals from distinct ion populations that are related to an acquired reference signal by simple time shifts, rather than time dilations. Such embodiments, as introduced herein, are enabled in a novel fashion by scanning the RF and DC on a quadrupole mass filter exponentially versus time and with a constant RF/DC proportion. The result provides high mass resolving power at high sensitivity spectra that is clearly distinguished from that produced by conventional quadrupole mass spectrometry methods and systems.